Friday, August 31, 2012

My Week In Movies - August Wrap Up

The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012) Disney's latest film deals with every kid's favorite topics of infertility and adoption. A young boy mysteriously emerges from the garden of a couple who have given up hope trying to have a child of their own. The boy teaches his new parents and everyone else in town a little something about themselves and each other. While not terribly compelling, this well made family drama should fit the bill if you're ever looking for a family drama.

Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012) I always say, I only ask one thing of a movie - be funny from beginning to end. This stop-motion feature from the folks who do Wallace & Gromit is hilarious from the very first scene up until the last. A band of pirates help their fearless leader, Pirate Captain, win the coveted title of Pirate of the Year. Very smart humor is mixed with some solid sight gags and plenty of slapstick, my kids and I loved this movie!

Casa de mi Padre (2012) Parody is a dying art form. The likes of Mad TV and the Date/Epic/Disaster Movies has reduced parody to just mentioning something from pop culture and then farting. Casa de mi Padre is Will Ferrel's take on Spanish telenovelas, crime movies, and Westerns. There's not a lot of jokes as in one liners or funny situations, it's all in the style of the film and the sincerity and conviction that Will Ferrel holds his own with an entire Spanish speaking cast while he converses in the foreign tongue for the entire 90 minuets. Don't worry, it's subtitled. As the poster says, "It's the funniest movie you'll ever read!"

Superman Vs. The Elite (2012) Love, love, LOVED this new DC animated flick which pits Supes against a group of vigilante super heroes. I was hooked on this movie from the retro opening title sequence, but the humor runs throughout the picture. The relationship between Superman/Clark and Lois Lane is fresh and the message of the film is strong and powerful. I even liked how DC wasn't afraid to take this cartoon to a more adult level with actual cursing and some sexual material. Still, I wasn't bothered with my 6 and 9 year old kids watching it. They loved it too. It's very well done and was worthy of a theatrical release.

The Dictator (2012) This is another strike-out for Sasha Baron Cohen. Da Ali G Show and Borat are both so painfully funny, but he can't seem to capture the magic again with Bruno and now this. The Dictator is scripted, so the outragousness doesn't seem quite so outrageous this time around, and the Hollywood story it's all wrapped up in is just plain stupid.

American Reunion (2012) I laughed once in the two hours this film lumbered across my TV screen.

Friends With Kids (2011) Pretty good Woody Allen-esque comedy about two friends who decide to have a kid together and cut through all the romantic BS of a relationship. It works really well and then with 10 minutes left to go it just derails onto Romantic Comedy Auto-Pilot. It ends on kind of a down note, but otherwise a very good movie.

Step Up 3

Step Up 3 (2010) Ok, this one was just silly...but I still enjoyed it.

Meatballs Part II (1984) I've been meaning to rewatch this great summer camp movie for years and I finally did on the last night of Summer Vacation. It still holds up!

The Silencers (1966) Dean Martin plays Matt Helm in the first of four movies where he pretty much channels his inner 007. That's 007 if he constantly drank and made out with girls.

Little House on the Prairie (1974) The pilot movie for the long running series is a really tight, sometimes intense story of the Ingalls family moving from their Little House in the Big Woods to Indian Country in Kansas. I read the first book in the series with my kids this summer and we all really liked it. It's surprising I never read the book before because my mother was a HUGE Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, but I wish I had read it when she was alive. She would have gotten a huge thrill out of discussing it with the boys and I.

Bloodlust! (1961) Mike Brady and three of his younger friends get stuck on a tropical island owned by a crazy millionaire who wants to set them loose in the jungle and hunt them down. As cheesy as any horror movie from 1961 is going to be, I actually quite enjoyed the film - with a brief running time of 68 minutes, it told it's story quickly and entertainingly.

August Movie Count: 26Best New Movie: Pirates! Band of MisfitsWorst New Movie: American ReunionBest Rewatch: In & Out2012 Movie Count: 159